Does Resveratrol Improve Blood Sugar Control?

Is The Promise of Resveratrol True?

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney

It was just a few years ago that resveratrol was the latest “miracle nutrient”. It was featured on Dr. Oz and on 60 Minutes. It was hot! Today you see dueling headlines. The headlines one week proclaim the benefits of resveratrol. Next week’s headlines say that it’s all hype. What’s a person to believe?

Let me take you behind the headlines to look at the actual studies and answer some important questions.

1) What do we actually know about the benefits of resveratrol?

2) Is the evidence for beneficial effects of resveratrol where it should be considering the number of clinical studies that have been published?

3) What additional studies need to be done before we can be sure that resveratrol is beneficial?

4) Should you wait until we are absolutely certain resveratrol is beneficial, before you start using it? This is perhaps the most important question of all.

To answer those questions, let’s examine the study behind one of the latest headlines, namely: “Resveratrol Improves Blood Sugar Control in Diabetics”. One of the promises of resveratrol has been that it might help diabetics and pre-diabetics who struggle with blood sugar control. However, this promise was based on animal studies. The study that generated the headlines in question was a meta-analysis of recently published human clinical trials in this area (Liu et al, Am. J. Clin. Nut., 2014, doi: 10.3945/ajcn.113.082024).

A strength of this meta-analysis is the fact that it included 11 clinical studies. However, a weakness of this analysis is that these studies utilized a wide variety of resveratrol doses (10 mg/day to 1 gram/day), a wide variety of end points and both diabetic and non-diabetic patients. That means that there were only a few studies with common population groups, resveratrol doses, and end points.

The conclusions of the study (and the headlines you may have seen) were that:

• No consistent effect of resveratrol on blood sugar control was seen in non-diabetics.

How Good Are These Studies?

While these studies are very promising, they are bot definitive. There were only 3 published clinical studies in diabetics. While all 3 of the studies showed a positive effect of resveratrol supplementation:

• The doses used were different in each study (ranging from 10 mg/day to 1 gram/day)

As a research scientist I would like to see more studies done at comparable doses and measuring the same end points – we scientists always want more studies.

Similarly, there was not enough consistency in the studies with non-diabetics to draw a firm conclusion. (3 were with obese patients, 3 were with patients with cardiovascular disease, 1 was with patients with metabolic syndrome and 1 was with perfectly healthy subjects.)

If you really wanted to see if something like resveratrol helps non-diabetics with blood sugar control, you would want to start with people who are already experiencing some difficulties with blood sugar control (pre-diabetics or patients with metabolic syndrome) and follow them for a couple of years to see if resveratrol reduces the number of them who become diabetic.

Are The Headlines Just Hype?

Does that mean that the blood sugar benefits of resveratrol are just hype? The answer is no. There is a difference between “very promising, but not yet definitive” and “hype”. We shouldn’t be surprised that human studies on the health benefits of resveratrol are not yet definitive. Science moves slowly. It often takes decades of scientific research before promising concepts are widely accepted by the scientific community.

When a research area is as young as this one, we sometimes need to go beyond the clinical studies and look at the totality of evidence. In this case:

So while more and better clinical studies are needed to be absolutely certain that resveratrol helps improve blood sugar control, the evidence supporting that effect is substantial.

What Should You Do?

The ONLY important question for each of you is probably: “Should I wait a decade or two until we are absolutely sure about the health benefits of resveratrol before I take a resveratrol supplement?” That question is ultimately yours to answer. It’s all about benefits and risk.

Risk – Current data suggest that resveratrol appears to be safe, even at high doses. For example, one recent study indicated that up to 5 gm/day is safe (Cancer Epidemiology BioMarkers & Prevention, volume 16:1246-1262, 2007), but I wouldn’t personally recommend exceeding 100-200 mg/day.

The Bottom Line:

1) Don’t get too excited about the headlines suggesting that resveratrol might help improve blood sugar control in diabetics. The few human clinical studies that have been published to date are consistent with previous animal studies. That is very promising, but more studies are needed before we can be absolutely confident that resveratrol supplementation is beneficial for diabetics.

2) Similarly, don’t be discouraged by the headlines suggesting that resveratrol does not help with blood sugar control in non-diabetics. Those results are preliminary as well.

3) That doesn’t mean that the headlines are just hype. It takes decades to accumulate definitive proof that any kind of food or nutrient offers proven benefits, and the bulk of human clinical research on reveratrol has occurred in the last couple of years. We are exactly where we should expect to be at this point in time.

4) With something as promising as resveratrol, the real question becomes whether you can afford to wait a decade or two until you know whether the potential benefits have been definitely proven. That question is up to you. On the plus side, current data suggest that resveratrol is highly promising for blood sugar control. In addition, resveratrol appears to be safe, even at high doses, but I wouldn’t personally recommend exceeding 100-200 mg/day.

5) We already know that weight control, exercise and a healthy diet improve blood sugar control. You should think of resveratrol as something you may wish to add to a healthy lifestyle, not as a substitute for a healthy lifestyle.

6) If you are diabetic and decide to try a resveratrol supplement, be sure to work with your physician so they can modify your dose of insulin or blood sugar medication as necessary.

7) Finally, you may be asking whether resveratrol supplements are even necessary. Can’t you just get all the resveratrol you need from a glass or two of red wine? Stay tuned. I’ll have the answer to that question in a couple of weeks.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

A Sleeping position that has your head tilted puts pressure on your spinal cord and will cause headaches. I’ve seen it happen hundreds of times, and the reasoning is so logical it’s easy to understand.

Your spinal cord runs from your brain, through each of your vertebrae, down your arms and legs. Nerves pass out of the vertebrae and go to every cell in your body, including each of your organs. When you are sleeping it is important to keep your head, neck, and spine in a horizontal plane so you aren’t straining the muscles that insert into your vertebrae.

The graphic above is a close-up of your skull and the cervical (neck) vertebrae. Your nerves are shown in yellow, and your artery is shown in red. Consider what happens if you hold your head to one side for hours. You can notice that the nerves and artery will likely be press upon. Also, since your spinal cord comes down the inside of the vertebrae, it will also be impinged.

In 2004 the Archives of Internal Medicine published an article stating that 1 out of 13 people have morning headaches. It’s interesting to note that the article never mentions the spinal cord being impinged by the vertebrae. That’s a major oversight!

Muscles merge into tendons, and the tendons insert into the bone. As you stayed in the tilted position for hours, the muscles actually shortened to the new length. Then you try to turn over, but the short muscles are holding your cervical vertebrae tightly, and they can’t lengthen.

The weight of your head pulls on the vertebrae, putting even more pressure on your spinal cord and nerves. Plus, the tight muscles are pulling on the bones, causing pain on the bone.

Your Pillow is Involved in Your Sleeping Position and the Causes of Headaches

The analogy I always use is; just as pulling your hair hurts your scalp, the muscle pulling on the tendons hurts the bone where it inserts. In this case it is your neck muscles putting a strain on your cervical bones. For example, if you sleep on your left side and your pillow is too thick, your head will be tilted up toward the ceiling. This position tightens the muscles on the right side of your neck.

Dozing off while sitting in a car waiting for someone to arrive, or while working for hours at your desk can also cause headaches. The pictures above show a strain on the neck when you fall asleep without any support on your neck. Both of these people will wake up with a headache, and with stiffness in their neck.

The best sleeping position to prevent headaches is to have your pillow adjusted so your head, neck, and spine are in a horizontal line. Play with your pillows, putting two thin pillows into one case if necessary. If your pillow is too thick try to open up a corner and pull out some of the stuffing.

Sleeping on Your Back & Stomach

If you sleep on your back and have your head on the mattress, your spine is straight. All you need is a little neck pillow for support, and a pillow under your knees.

Stomach sleeping is the worst sleeping position for not only headaches, but so many other aches and pains. It’s a tough habit to break, but it can be done. This sleeping position deserves its own blog, which I will do in the future.

Treating the Muscles That Cause Headaches

All of the muscles that originate or insert into your cervical vertebrae, and many that insert into your shoulder and upper back, need to be treated. The treatments are all taught in Treat Yourself to Pain Free Living, in the neck and shoulder chapters. Here is one treatment that will help you get relief.

Take either a tennis ball or the Perfect Ball (which really is Perfect because it has a solid center and soft outside) and press into your shoulder as shown. You are treating a muscle called Levator Scapulae which pulls your cervical vertebrae out of alignment when it is tight.

Hold the press for about 30 seconds, release, and then press again.

Your pillow is a key to neck pain and headaches caused by your sleeping position. It’s worth the time and energy to investigate how you sleep and correct your pillow. I believe this blog will help you find the solution and will insure you have restful sleep each night.

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

About The Author

Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

She has been widely published, both on – and off – line, in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers around the country. She is also often chosen to speak at national conventions, medical schools, and health facilities nationwide.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

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The statements in these articles have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Any Health Care changes should be made only after consulting with your Doctor and licensed Health Care Advisor.

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